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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Can we replace WOULD by WAS in such a sentence?
Hello, there,
In the following sentence:
Born in on Oct. 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt is the second of four children of Theodore and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. At age 6, T.R., his brother Elliott and friend Edith Carow (who would one day be his second wife) watch Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession from the home of T.R.'s grandfather on Manhattan's Union Square.
Can we change the modal verb WOULD into the simple past tense WAS? And what's the difference?
I think that WAS is also acceptable if we change a little bit of the context "who was his second wife", but I cannot explain the difference?
Coud you please help me out? Could you please explain the difference between these two verb systems in such a sentence?
Thank you in advance!
In the following sentence:
Born in on Oct. 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt is the second of four children of Theodore and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. At age 6, T.R., his brother Elliott and friend Edith Carow (who would one day be his second wife) watch Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession from the home of T.R.'s grandfather on Manhattan's Union Square.
Can we change the modal verb WOULD into the simple past tense WAS? And what's the difference?
I think that WAS is also acceptable if we change a little bit of the context "who was his second wife", but I cannot explain the difference?
Coud you please help me out? Could you please explain the difference between these two verb systems in such a sentence?
Thank you in advance!
Top answer
Best to wait for the mod[al] squad. ) That is, would be = was to be . The use of present tense in your original italicized excerpt makes it sound like the voice-over in a documentary film.
- Best to wait for the mod[al] squad.
- ) That is, would be = was to be .
- The use of present tense in your original italicized excerpt makes it sound like the voice-over in a documentary film.
- - A.
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4 Answers
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Best to wait for the mod[al] squad.
My ear says (who would one day be his second wife) equals (who was one day to be / become his second wife.) That is, would be = was to be.
The use of present tense in your original italicized excerpt makes it sound like the voice-over in a documentary film.
- A.
My ear says (who would one day be his second wife) equals (who was one day to be / become his second wife.) That is, would be = was to be.
The use of present tense in your original italicized excerpt makes it sound like the voice-over in a documentary film.
- A.
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Hi there!
Can I say that "who would one day be his second wife" is a possibility for being wife in the past?
"who was his second wife" is a past simple that happened in the
Can I say that "who would one day be his second wife" is a possibility for being wife in the past?
"who was his second wife" is a past simple that happened in the
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mboutiHi there!"who would one day be his second wife" is a possibility for being a wife in the future and not in the past.
Can I say that "who would one day be his second wife" is a possibility for being wife in the past?
"who was his second wife" is a past simple that happened in the
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mbouti has a point here. The crazy tenses in the OP excerpt set the present tense as the time when TR was/is six years old watching Lincoln's funeral procession. Therefore, the equivalent should be, "who would one day become his second wife" would be equal to, "who is one day to be/become his second wife."
"Who would one day become" only shows contextually that the
"Who would one day become" only shows contextually that the
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